{"id":9,"date":"2015-12-06T13:32:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T13:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daattevunot.wordpress.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2015-12-06T13:32:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T13:32:13","slug":"part-three-on-daat-tevunot-knowing-the-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/2015\/12\/06\/part-three-on-daat-tevunot-knowing-the-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"Part Three: On Da\u2019at Tevunot (\u201cKnowing the Reasons\u201d)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>(\u201cKnowing the Reasons\u201d)<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Imagine sitting knee to knee with someone very wise, with the chance to ask anything you\u2019d like. Well, that\u2019s the setting to Ramchal\u2019s Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> [1], which functions as a dialogue between a seeker and a sage \u2026 actually between a soul and reason itself. (Ramchal wrote other books in a dialogue format, but Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>was the best of them by far.)<\/p>\n

The soul asked reason to explain a few things about the most important themes in Jewish Thought, which have come to be known as \u201cThe Thirteen Principles of the Jewish Faith\u201d. For as the soul put it, \u201cWhile I certainly accept all of them as true without hesitation, some of them I accept indeed and understand as well, while others of them I simply accept on faith without really understanding them\u201d. And he was hoping that reason would spell them out to him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important for our purposes here to know that Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, 1135-1204) listed thirteen fundamental things about the Jewish religion we\u2019d need to accept in order to claim to be believing Jews in all honesty: That G-d exists, is the only G-d, is wholly spiritual and incorporeal, is eternal, and that He alone should be worshipped; that He revealed His wishes to us through the prophets, and that Moses was the greatest among them; that G-d’s Torah was given on Mount Sinai and is absolute; that G-d is omniscient, and rewards all good deeds and punishes all wrongful ones; and that the Messiah will come and the dead will eventually be resurrected [2].<\/p>\n

But as the soul explained, he needed to have G-d\u2019s omniscience, reward and punishment, the coming of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead explained to him, since he doesn\u2019t quite understand them. And therein lays the premise of the book.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll come back to that shortly, but let\u2019s first touch on the response to Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>in the Jewish world and its modern publication.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Like all spectacular works of revelation, deep insight, and overarching truth, Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>seemed destined to be adored by those exposed to Jewish Thought and Kabbalah, and to go about unnoticed by others. And that indeed was what happened for the longest time.<\/p>\n

Some of the greatest Jewish thinkers took to it right away, including but certainly not limited to the Maggid<\/em> of Mezritch (the successor to the Ba\u2019al Shem Tov<\/em>) and The Gaon<\/em> of Vilna (it should be said that though it would seem awkward to many to cite those great individuals side by side, but the fact that these \u201cwarring\u201d giants both revered this work speaks to the greatness and universality of Ramchal); Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto (a distant cousin of the Ramchal, who was a great scholar in his own right), Rabbi Shlomo Eliyashav (1841-1925, known as The Leshem<\/em>, in commemoration of his great series of Kabbalistic works), and others. But many learned Jews knew nothing of this vital work until Rabbi Chaim Friedlander (the mashgiach<\/em> of the Ponevitzh Yeshiva, who was a student of Rabbi E. Dessler) offered it to the Jewish world in the 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Friedlander examined various manuscript versions of Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>in libraries and private collections throughout the world, and presented us with the most accurate edition to date. He then set the book in a more readable type, positioned whole sections of it as independent units, explained the difficulties, and elucidated many of the more elusive, erudite points.<\/p>\n

He also connected Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>to certain shorter works of Ramchal\u2019s (the Klallim<\/em>) that were related to it on an arcane level. For Ramchal contended that the Ari\u2019s works were to be read and understood symbolically<\/em> rather than literally (see below for a discussion of this). So, Ramchal encapsulated the Ari\u2019s thoughts in his Klallim<\/em> (and elsewhere), and then \u201ctranslated\u201d the symbols into terms more easily grasped in Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>. (Let it be known that not everyone agreed with Ramchal’s approach to Ari’s writings or to the idea that he “translated” Ari’s symbols, but that’s beyond our scope here.)<\/p>\n

Rabbi Friedlander connected the works in his edition, showed how one reflected the other, and thus allowed readers to follow both the esoteric and exoteric perspectives. (Rabbi Friedlander edited and made many more of Ramchal\u2019s works readily available as well in his relatively short life, and we all owe him a great debt.)<\/p>\n

Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>was then translated into English by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein (who termed the work \u201cThe Knowing Heart\u201d which, while inexact as a translation of the title, nonetheless served to transmit the main thoughts of the work), and several commentaries have been written to it aside from Rabbi Freidlander’s, including those of Rabbis Mordechai Shriki, Avraham Goldblatt, Yospeh Spinner, and Binyamin Effrati. As such, many who would never have had access to this masterpiece of Jewish Thought now do.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

Though Da\u2019at Tevunot <\/em>does indeed expound upon the great themes of G-d\u2019s omniscience, reward and punishment, the coming of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead as we\u2019d said, it actually uses them to express some of Ramchal\u2019s own greatest ideas. We\u2019ll treat them one at a time, but in fact they come to G-d\u2019s sovereignty, the role of evil and wrong in the world, the meaning of life, and G-d\u2019s plans for the cosmos. Ramchal explained many other vital, overarching themes too in this work, but space will not allow us to delve into them as well. So we\u2019ll concentrate on the ones just cited and present Ramchal\u2019s ideas about them in our own words.<\/p>\n

One of his major points is that we very often misconstrue the extent of G-d’s reach. Most of us who believe in Him — including many who have experienced honest and even profound apprehensions of His presence in the world — certainly accept the fact of His existence. But while we accept His presence in the Heavens or perhaps even on earth as well, few of us though accept the idea that He\u2019s everywhere, throughout the cosmos. And that He\u2019s not only present everywhere, but He\u2019s also in command<\/em> throughout the cosmos, too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s to say that G-d not only created everything and sustains everything as well — He also holds ultimate and exclusive sway over everything! For G-d\u2019s sovereignty and rule is absolute and can never, ever be thwarted. There is nothing that can get in His way, nothing that can challenge His intentions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait a minute!\u201d you\u2019re bound to say. \u201cDidn\u2019t He grant us the freedom to do what we will; and don\u2019t many, many people use that to seemingly go against His will<\/em> often enough?\u201d — and you\u2019d be right. So let\u2019s use the opportunity to first explain Ramchal\u2019s view on the next subject at hand, the role of evil and wrong in the world.<\/p>\n

Only the most innocent and pure-hearted among us can say with aplomb that everything is for the good and as it should be. Yet we\u2019re taught outright that \u201cG-d is good to all and merciful unto all His handiwork\u201d (Psalms 145:9) \u2026 so why don\u2019t the rest of see that all around us? Ramchal would offer that we simply don\u2019t know what we\u2019re looking at when we catch sight of things, and that everything is indeed for the good. His explanation for the truth of the idea that everything is for the good is that bad and wrongfulness only serve as vehicles for the ultimate good (much the way fever serves to burn away infection, and surgery often carves out cancerous growths). His point is that wrong and misfortune — while certainly painful and daunting — serve as means to an end that are far greater than the pain involved.<\/p>\n

Thus while we\u2019re indeed free to do as we will, in the end nothing can ever truly go against G-d\u2019s will, despite appearances; everything serves His purposes.<\/p>\n

That brings us to the meaning of life and G-d\u2019s ultimate plans for the cosmos, as Ramchal reveals them to us in this astounding work. At bottom, we\u2019re taught here, what\u2019s expected of us is to draw as close to G-d as we can by following His will. The irony however is that we\u2019ll all manage to do that in the (ultimate) end — either directly, by adhering to His expectations for us, or by enduring the sort of remedial \u201csurgery\u201d we alluded to above. Our having arrived at that juncture will then enable us to experience G-d\u2019s full, rich, and overarching omnipresence. And our having come to that point will serve to have been the fulfillment of G-d\u2019s ultimate plans for the cosmos.<\/p>\n

But let it be underscored that the single greatest theme that Ramchal set out to explain in Da’at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> is G-d\u2019s utter and all-encompassing Sovereignty (his Yichud<\/em> in Hebrew). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For as we were taught G-d said, “I am the L-rd and there is no other; besides Me there is no G-d \u2026 there is no one besides Me.\u00a0I am the L-rd and there is no other\u201d (Isaiah 45:5-7). Ramchal also indicated that we can hasten the revelation of G-d\u2019s Yichud<\/em> if we choose.<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

There’s one other point to be made about this work. As we indicated above, like so many others of his books, Da’at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> is deeply rooted in the works of the Ari (1534\u20131572). Anyone who has ever ventured into those writings can\u2019t help but be struck by their inscrutable terminology and imagery.<\/p>\n

The reader finds him or herself strolling about somehow in a universe (five<\/em> universes in fact!) swollen with legions of alternatively whirling and still, descending and ascending, exploding and imploding bold and invisible things and non-things termed \u201cworlds\u201d, \u201cspheres\u201d, \u201cfaces\u201d, \u201cemanations\u201d, \u201cvessels\u201d, \u201clights\u201d, and \u201cletters\u201d. He\u2019s also thrust in the middle of something that could only be termed the melding and severing of parts with the whole, and into instances of infinity and near infinity; and he\u2019s faced with unexpected depictions of G-d Almighty\u2019s will and much more. Could anyone not help but wonder what\u2019s going on in all that?<\/p>\n

Some of the Ari\u2019s references have entered into contemporary Jewish Thought, but much of it eludes even the greatest Jewish scholars. In fact many who do<\/em> use the terms on a more or less sophisticated level don\u2019t really understand the underpinnings of the system well enough to saunter about it comfortably and methodically. As a consequence, many works that go about elucidating the Ari\u2019s universe don\u2019t actually explain<\/em> it so much as allow the various parts to all fit neatly and precisely within the system itself, without offering the big picture and without explaining what\u2019s being said at bottom.<\/p>\n

Some great souls did indeed grasp the whole, though. They understood and were able to express what the Ari was talking about in plain-enough terms. For as the Gaon of Vilna and his disciples understood, the Ari\u2019s imagery is utterly allegorical and was meant to depict the largely inexplicable through bold metaphor and imagery [3].<\/p>\n

Ramchal also understood that. As he put it at one point, \u201cThe science of Kabbalah is only (meant) to (have one) understand how the Supreme Will governs, and (to explain) why G-d created all the various beings, what He expects of them, what will come about at the end of the universal cycle, and how these worldly phenomena are to be explained\u201d (Klach Pitchei Chochma<\/em> 30).<\/p>\n

So, he set out to articulate Ari\u2019s various themes one by one in several of his works, but most especially, vividly, and successfully in Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>. For rather than explain all the minutia of the Ari\u2019s imagery there, what he set out to explain was G-d\u2019s interactions with humankind based on Ari\u2019s revelations and in lieu of his terminology.<\/p>\n

One final thing, touching on the makeup of this work. The truth of the matter is that the dialogue form that Ramchal used in Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> is no longer popular or easy to read. It\u2019s too cumbersome and artificial for our tastes, since the questioner (the soul) seems to act as a mere catalyst for the responder\u2019s (reason\u2019s) answers and the give-and-take seems too turgid and belabored.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve taken the liberty of laying out Ramchal\u2019s statements in our own words, largely; and we\u2019ve taken some excursions along the way that either touch upon things that are only mentioned in Da\u2019at Tev<\/em>unot cursorily which Ramchal went into in more detail elsewhere, or in order to offer our own insights. As such, this work actually serves as an adaptation of Da\u2019at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

May the merits of the righteous Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto of blessed memory draw us all close to G-d Almighty!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> was first printed in Warsaw, Poland in 1889 by the well known scholar and bibliophile, Rabbi Shmuel Luria.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See his comments to Mishna Sanhedrin<\/em> 10. We\u2019ll expand upon this in Ramchal\u2019s Introduction to follow.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Nephesh HaChaim<\/em> 3:7; see a letter written by Rabbi Avraham Simcha of Stislav cited in p. 236 of Rabbi Friedlander’s edition of Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>; \u00a0also see Rabbi Friedlander\u2019s Iyyunim<\/em> (#61) on p. 214 there for a discussion of the parabolic nature of prophetic visions in general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot (\u201cKnowing the Reasons\u201d) 1. Imagine sitting knee to knee with someone very wise, with the chance to ask anything you\u2019d like. Well, that\u2019s the setting to Ramchal\u2019s Da\u2019at Tevunot [1], which functions as a dialogue between a seeker … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,8,10,11,12],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-daat-tevunot","tag-hashkapha","tag-jewish-thought","tag-kabbalah","tag-ramchal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqo7-9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}